Reply by Don W

I tend to go about my purchases different. I set the money aside and wait for a deal. But I also have some form of most of the equipment and its more uprading more than buying.

So my advice would be as follows, along with some questions you can ask yourself.

Don’t buy the $80 waterstone set. I’m not sure how you sharpen now, but buy quality stones. Everyone knows I don’t care for waterstones, but they do a good job if you have quality stones.

The dewalt planer is probably the best portable planer on the market. My question would be, do you need one of that quality for what you’re going to do? I used a $200 ryobi for several years with absolutely no complains other than it was a little slow. ( still have it, and it still works, I just don’t use it much )

lay tools you chose are good choices.

I’ve heard great things about the narex chisels and having a set of chisels is on my want list, but again, for me its an upgrade, so if you don’t have them, buy them.

I don’t like your choice of a vice. A vice is something you’ll use a lot. If its a good one you’ll use it without even noticing it. Don’t buy any vice with the cheap thin steel handle. For $20 more you can get this one, but it would be worth the extra to go to this one.

I would have recommended you buy a leg vice screw and make your own leg vice, but I couldn’t find one at rockler. Lee Valley has them though.

A router is a handy tool to have, even without the table. Once you have the router, you can make the table. Start with a mid sized and just buy the bits you will use.